Job Search
by AppleCoreCandyBox
Summary: Ed tries to find a job in Post World War I Germany.
1. Library

Ed sat in the chair, fidgeting as the supervisor of the library bore all her attention on to the little piece of paper in front of her.

Edward tries to calm his unnaturally edgy nerves, confused by his own nervousness.

It was just a job interview. For a position at a _library_. All he needed to do was submit his résumé for review and survive a small, all but five minute interview. No big deal. This was like a walk in the park compared to the State Alchemy test.

And yet, when the supervisor finally turned her sharp eyes away from his résumé to rest on him, he felt a fairly well sized ball of nerves bundle up into a tight knot in his stomach.

"Well," she began crisply, "you seem to be very well qualified for the job position."

The knotted nerves uncoiled a little bit as Edward's hope of finally finding a decent job in the crap economy that was post-World War I Germany grabbed hold of his heart.

"But I have to ask you, do you think you'll be able to handle shelving books onto the top shelves. You seem rather small for your age."

Needless to say, Ed's wild outburst of "Who are you calling a bean sized squirt you prude cow!" did not land him the job.


	2. Bakery

It is highly doubted that anyone who'd known Edward in Amestris would have ever thought they would see the day he would be working as an apprentice in a bakery. The best question to ask here is also the most simple: Why?

Why did Ed suddenly have the urge to apprentice himself in the ways of baking?

The answer to this simple question also has a similarly simple answer: He didn't.

Edward Elric had never had, and probably never would have, the desire to bake the tasty treats that so many people are fond of getting fat off of.

The fact of the matter was this: Edward did not like baking…but he was still in desperate need of a job.

It took Ed a very long while to get the courage to even think of making another attempt in finding steady work after the debacle at the library. There'd been quite an uproar in the immediate area about the young blonde _undankbar _who'd had the gall to bad mouth the library's supervisor. Needless to say, it had not been fun being Edward Elric for about two straight weeks after the incident. It was very hard to go about a normal day of researching in a library -the only library within a reasonable walking distance- when everyone there kept trying to kill you with glares and blantant staring alone. But, as most consequences of a poor choice do, it passed and things eventually went back to being mostly normal.

After the whole fiasco, Ed had had the mind that maybe he should jut focus on finding a way back to his true home and let his dad bring home the figurative bacon. Alas, this plan was very short lived, considering that once he'd voiced the idea to Hohenhiem, the man had non-stopped told him about a position that had opened in a very near by baker's shop.

There is only so much pestering that a teenager can take before they just give into the nagging of a parent.

So, that is how it came to be that Ed found himself in the back room of said bakery, appointed with the job of making sure the large loaves of bread didn't burn to a crisp and that the fires didn't die in the ovens. It wasn't the most exciting or interesting -or even really that difficult- job he'd ever heard of.

But, at least it didn't mean his height was a questionable handicap.

Ed sighed as he stoked the fire of one the huge, black ovens for about the tenth time. Upon making sure, yet again, that the bread was cooking just right –_"Don't you dare let those loaves burn up! I've got to run a quick errand and I should be back in the hour. If you can manage to not burn the bread, I'll hire you, ok?"_- Ed took the opportunity to relax for a moment.

Leaning his right fore arm up against one of the ovens that had not been started, Ed took the moment to glare in distain at the surrounding kitchen.

"Maybe my old man will finally lay off me if I manage to do this for a while…" Ed pondered out loud, trailing off as an odd smell caught his nose.

It was a sick sort of smell, the type that comes with your hair burning, or when rubber was melting.

As that thought struck him, Ed stiffened in anxiety. Slowly, deliberately slowly, Ed looked down to the prosthetic arm Hohenhiem had made for him. Only to find that the rubber substance acting as its skin was melting onto the outside of the oven he'd obvious mistaken as being unused.

------

"Edward, what are you doing home so early? I thought you'd gone to take that job at the bakery." was all Hohenhiem asked as his son sulked through the door of their small apartment.

Edward turned sharply and acidly glared at his father, holding up the congealed mess that was his melted and then cooled prosthetic.

"What happened to your arm?"

Edward muttered a response.

"What was that Edward, I couldn't hear what you said."

Ed bared his teeth in frustration.

"I said my arm got melted to one of the dumb ovens and when I finally got it off, the goddamn rubber cooled down and it wouldn't move! The stupid storekeeper didn't come back when he said he was going to and I ended up having to try and get the goddamn loaves out of the ovens with only one working arm!"

Hohenhiem waited a moment before asking.

"Did you get to keep the job?"

"I fucking burnt the bread!" was the only reply he got before his son stormed off, the sound of a slamming door shaking the house slightly.

Hohenhiem sighed.

"Guess I'll have to make another arm."

-------

I decided to continue this and make it sort of a drabble/ficlet thing…should be fun!!!

Note: _undankbar _means "ingrate" in German.


	3. Coroner's Office

It didn't take Hohenhiem very long to find Edward another potential job opening. Given, it was one that neither Father nor Son really liked the idea of. But –both of themselves agreeing on something for the first time- with the economy being what it was, one took whatever job you could find.

Even if it was in a coroner's office.

"So, are you here for the job because it's lucrative or because you have a thing for the dead?" was the very first question Ed's potential boss asked him when he walked in.

"L-lucrative job…" was all Ed had been able to stammer out. The place gave him the creeps, and he hadn't even had to deal with a body yet.

The middle aged man behind the counter sighed in relief, mumbling something about how the last employee had been a little _too_ caring with the bodies of the deceased.

A chill ran down Ed's spine, trying very hard not to visualize what _too _caring might imply.

"Follow me. Someone died just last night and I've got to give the authorities some idea how and even if the poor kid was killed."

If someone else was in the room, they would have noticed a distinct paling of Edward's face as he followed the man to the back room.

The smell that hit him as he stepped into examination room was so strong that he couldn't help but instinctively cover his nose and let his eyes water freely. The sour odor of embalming fluids and almost rotting flesh were defiantly not a good mixture.

To Ed's amazement, the coroner took a deep breath and sighed. How in the hell could the man breathe at all?!

"You get use to the smell after a while." Was all the man offered at the look Ed gave him.

The man then proceeded to pull on a dark, old leather apron, gloves, and what looked like small reading glasses.

Ed realized, with a distinct feeling of disgust forming in his stomach, that the apron was stained that dark color. It had been practically_ soaked_ in something to make it that dark, blackish brown color. He swallowed very hard when he realized that rather disturbing fact.

"What was your name again, boy?" the man asked as he walked deeper into the dimly lit room.

"Edward Elric." Ed's muffled reply came.

"Well, Edward Elric, if you can get through this autopsy without throwing your guts up, I'll give you the job. Sound fair enough?" the man's voice sounded from the darker part of the room.

Ed grunted in affirmation, hoping he'd be able to hold up his end of the deal.

The man came back into the light a moment later, a wooden gurney-like contraption being pulled behind him. On this contraption lay a particularly stinking thing covered by a yellowing sheet.

Ed's stomach lurched as the sheet was lifted away from the particularly stinking something to reveal the body of a boy. A boy who could only be a year older than himself.

His skin was that pale, sickly yellow color that only came with death. His purple tinted eyelids, to Ed's growing discomfot, were not completely closed.

Ed could see he had had very deep blue eyes, probably a characteristic he'd been well known for.

The man had gone to the back room again, upon returning was ladened with a tray of dangerous, dirty, primitive looking autopsy instruments. In Ametris, Ed had seen autopsy instruments only once. That time, they'd only made him feel slightly at edge, only a little queasy. But that had probably been because they hadn't been nearly as gruesome, underdeveloped, or gut wrenchingly designed as the ones he was looking at now.

Ed swallowed hard. The combination of the smells and sights of the room were doing wonders to Ed's resolve to not throw up.

"Hey boy, you don't look so good. If you're going to lose your cookies, there's a bucket in the corner over there."

Even if Ed still needed the job, still needed to up hold his end of the deal to get said job, his stomach just couldn't comply with the demands. A few seconds later, Ed found himself bent over in the corner, throwing up into the deep bucket.

---------

Hohenhiem was not surprised to find his son arrive home early that day. He wasn't surprised to find him a very sickly looking pale color or find him stinking of vomit.

Hohenhiem knew the actual watching an act of death was one thing, seeing what happened to the body afterwards was on a whole other level.

"Edward." Hohenhiem stood from his work table and went to stand in front of his bewildered, ill at heart looking son.

Ed didn't say anything, just stared back at his father with a deeply haunted look in his eyes. Hohenhiem patted his shoulder gently. When Ed didn't try to deflect the small sign of affection, Hohenhiem really wished he hadn't insisted on trying for the job.

If his son was too emotionally overwhelmed to even get angry with him, it really must have been more than Edward could've handled.

"Go to bed Edward. You look terrible."

Ed just nodded and trudged up the stairs to his room.

Hohenhiem sighed and looked at the clock. It was only two o'clock in the afternoon, and his son had already tired of the day.

---------

First serious piece of this little ongoing job search of Edward's…I feel bad for the guy. Dead bodies are not fun to view, let alone getting them ready_ for_ viewing.


	4. Motorbike Shop

After the little episode at the coroner's office, Hohenhiem decided that he shouldn't bug Ed with any job openings he might stumble on for a while.

To his delight, however, a week after the incident, Ed had found another job opening. All by himself, too. Hohenhiem was proud of his son for being so mature and taking charge of such an adult endeavor.

It didn't even really bother him that Ed had found said job at a run down motorbike shop.

It didn't bother him at all.

Motorbikes were nice, technologically wonderful things, Hohenhiem reasoned. So long as people decided not to drive them loudly by his apartment in the wee hours in the morning.

Like they'd done before.

Quite a few times too…

He sighed and continued eating his bland dinner of poorly seasoned sausage and bitter coffee, trying to convince himself that motorbikes were nice things.

Just as he was lifting the coffee cup to his lips and mentally repeating mentally to himself for about the twentieth _'Motorbikes are __**not**__ the bane to the existence of peaceful sleeping'_, Edward banged open the front door. For some reason, he looked like he was ready to rip off someone's head.

And then Hohenhiem spotted Edward's hair, set his cup down gently, and tried very hard not to laugh at his son.

"Edward, what happened to you?"

Edward's hair had somehow become a bird's nest of caught cogs, wires, bits of metal, and other, small motorbike parts.

Edward gave him one sour look, made his way to the single, ground floor bathroom and purposely slammed the door shut once he'd entered. There was a moment of silence before Hohenhiem got his answer.

"It got caught in one of those fucking motorized hell on wheels!"

There was another beat of silence before a cry of pure frustration came from the bathroom.

"I _hate_ motorbikes!"

Hohenhiem finally smiled, chuckling to himself.

Now, at least he and Ed had something they could agree on one hundred percent.

-----------

I really liked writing this one…


	5. Failures and Teaching Pt1

After a long while, Ed finally managed to get and hold a job for longer then an hour or two.

As it would be, becoming a rocket scientist eventually threw his life for a few many good loops. What with dealing with cults, a psychotic and/or paranoid woman, losing his dad, and finally finding a way home all but to have to immediately turn around and go back. To top it all off, it had been a very pleasant, though heart attack worthy, surprise to find that Al had managed to make his way back with him.

For the most part, excluding being reunited with his brother, being a rocket scientist had been a rather large disappointment.

And so, Ed was once again faced with the deed of finding himself a steady job. Especially with their father no longer able to help them, Ed knew it was his responsibility as the oldest sibling to become the provider. He would have done this happily and without complaint, had Al not managed to find a job before him.

It wouldn't have been nearly as bad of a blow to his ego if he hadn't been searching for a position for over two weeks and it had taken Al all but one afternoon to find one. Even that would have been bearable, had it not been that the only job he did end up landing was at the exact place Al worked. on his little brother's recommendation.

The thing that made it the worst though, and I mean the worst, for Edward Elric, was that said job with said little brother, was at a pet store.

Now, Ed had nothing against animals. They were nice for the most part, and they were pretty cute when they were little. In fact, as a little kid, Ed had been as much of an animal lover as Al was. It seemed, however, that animals had never been much of a lover of him. Where grown up ducks let Al much closer then normal to their young, they ferociously chased Ed away. Whenever the mice burrowed their way indoors for the winter, they always seemed to love to leave little surprises in Ed's shoes. Cats scratched him, dogs barked, birds squawked, hamsters gnawed, and he even had a turtle bite him once so hard it had taken a good minute or two to pry it off his little finger.

So, as you can plainly see, it wasn't that Edward Elric was an animal hater more so then it was that animals just simply did not like him. Knowing this, it should be no surprise to you that on his first day working there, Edward was let go.

No, he hadn't done anything wrong. He didn't yell at his boss. Or melt his arm. Or nearly faint. Or get his hair caught in the merchandise.

It was just that the merchendise, more or less, got caught up in him. Hurting him, that is.

Edward next three jobs followed the same suite...that being, he all got fired from them.

First there was the flower store job. It only took an afternoon of Edward sneezing up a storm for the owner to discover that he was allergic to a particular type of tulip the store was well known for.

Then there was the bar tending job. It had been going good for a while, that was, until a drunken customer had somehow mistaken Edward for a woman and had tried to cop a feel. As it stands, Edward still owes the bar money in compensation for the damages.

Lastly, there had been his attempt at becoming a firefighter. But, alas, when they had discovered he had prosthetics for a leg and an arm, they'd become a lot less inviting.

And so, amongst all of these failures, Edward did what any sane person would.

He sulked.

It was three days later that Alphonse decided it was high time to get his brother back on his feet and kick all the sulk bunnies out of his system. Knocking quietly on the door, Al was soon to let himself into his brother's room, closing the door behind him. He sighed at the sight of Ed still curled up in a ball underneath his sheets. Just like he'd been last time he'd checked on him...yesterday afternoon.

"Brother, how are you feeling today?"

Receiving no reply, Al sighed again. Really, for an eighteen year old man, Ed sure could act like a kid when he wanted to.

"Come on Brother, you can't stay in here forever. Let's go for a walk today, would you like that?"

Ed only pulled the sheets over his head. This time, Al groaned in pure frustration.

"Really Ed, I'm sure you'll find a job sooner or later. It's nothing to worry about, honestly!" Al said, sitting down on the corner of the bed.

Edward said something, the sheet muffling it to where Al couldn't make out the words.

"What was that Brother?"

At this, Ed's head popped out from underneath the sheets, an over exaggerated look of despair etched into his features.

"I. Lost. Three. Jobs. Three! Right in a row!"

"Come on Brother, it's not so bad."

Ed rolled his eyes and let his head fall back to his thin pillow.

"What good am I if I can't even hold down a job? The only thing I was really good at was alchemy, and I can't even do that on this side of the Gate."

Al frowned. Apparently his brother's sadness went deeper then just not being able to find steady work.

"Now don't say that Brother. There's plenty of things you're good at. There's no reason to think other wise."

"Name one."

"You've got your brain!" Al said triumphantly and instantly.

Ed raised his head, giving his brother a questioning look.

"It's as sharp as a tack! How many people can say that Brother?"

"But what's so great about a sharp mind if it can't land me a job?"

Al folded his arms and mock-glared at Ed.

"Maybe you're not looking in the right places."

Ed had opened his mouth to retort, found that he had nothing to say, and closed it again.

"Think about it Brother, before you decide to mope about for any longer." Al said, standing to leave.

Once Al had left the room, Ed lay there, thinking about what he had said.

Not looking in the right places. Not looking for the right job, huh?

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Not so much humor in this one, wait for part two, ok?!


End file.
